This invention relates to an improved credit card construction and, more particularly, to a credit card construction which includes a mechanism that eliminates unauthorized use of the credit card.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,081 issued Oct. 2, 1973, to Armbruster et al. for a Credit Card, there is disclosed a credit card construction which utilizes slots and mechanically movable members or tabs positioned in said slots. The members are movable to any one of a plurality of defined, index positions. In order to use the credit card, the movable members must be set in appropriate positions. The card is then "read" by identification apparatus such as a cash register computer billing terminal. When not in use the tabs are displaced from the correct "combination" positions.
The prior art credit card construction described, while providing a good means to prevent unauthorized use of a credit card, has the disadvantage of not being compatible with many credit card systems. Moreover, a complex combination of numbers may necessarily need to be committed to memory. This would be a burdensome task for the credit card user in the event he owns a number of such cards. The present invention contemplates an improvement over the prior art structure utilizing some of the basic principles associated with the prior art structure.